500 Series Rack Idea.. working on a peter purpose 525 - GroupDIY

Hi Guys

I had an idea on DIYing either a 11 space 500 series rack  with
External PSU or a 9 space 500 series rack with internal PSU.

I am building this around a Vector  CCK13P/90  subrack card cage.
A CCK13S/90 or CCA13S/90 should work as well.





These guys can be had at Digikey,Mouser,Newark and Allied
Here in the US…(shop around for the best price.  I got mine
On evelbay for $71.00)

There are 2 very adjustable connector mounting rails that my Edac
15 pin connectors mount right up to with built in nuts.  If I hard
wire the 15 pin connectors  a back plane will not be necessary.   Very easy!





I think I will have front panel express make me a front panel for this
Thing and make it 9 space rack with built in PSU.  I will make a
XLR connector panel for the back.  Should look nice, work well
And be much cheaper than a real API one.

GARY This is exactly what I did, with a card cage that I allready had. I just use the front module panel mounting to attach to the front rails, then wired the rear edge connectors to the p/s and directly to the audio p/b cables as I got modules. The standard way is to buss the p/s across all the edge connectors w/ some solid wire, and have a back panel w/ connectors. You could use stranded wire for the p/s buss, to allow you to adjust the edge connector spacing a bit, and attach a back (XLR?) panel w/ a bit of scrap angle. If you make up a few blank module panels to fill any empty spaces in front, you should not need anything else
Have you priced a "real" 5 space rack? OUCH!
that reminds me, I have some L200 powered racks to post for a friend..... Thanks for the info. Does your Vector rack CCK13x have adjustable depth to accept API 500 series cards that have a 6.0 inch depth?

Or do you use the 4.5inch x 6.5inch Vectorbord prototype cards with the card cage depth set to 6.5 inches.

I would like to use a Vector rack that can accept standard API 500 series cards 6.0 inch depth and prototype with Vectorbord 4.5 x 6.5 inch cards. If the Vector card cage CCK13 series has adjustable depth, I guess I would cut the Vectorbord proto card down to 6.0 inches depth and then be able to install standard 500 series cards as well.

Am I on the right track here? :?

Thanks, AudioHammer

You are right on track. I cut my vector board to 6" (5 7/8") so I could use other 500 series cards. The CCK13 series connector rails
are Very adjustable as long as all cards are the same length
and the connectors are all the same size. Look at the adjustor
in the last picture above. As you can see its adjustable in 2 planes.
Card depth and connector length. :wink:

GARY Here is an update.

Front panel has arrived from FPE :grin:









I have a lot of wiring to do and a PSU to build and a pile
of XLRs to buy  but it seems like
this will work out nicely.

I am also working on converting a 312 card into a 500 series
form factor module.  It's layed out but I have a lot of work to
do yet.  This should also work nicely.







I will update again when more is completed.

GARY